INTERNATIONAL QL REPORT
The Definitive Information Source
Published by SeaCoast Services
In This Issue )
§
WOE
Helpful Hints - Dilwyn Jones
Super Disk Index - Review by Alan Hodge
Matcher - Archive Program by Bill Cable
CGP-220 Color Printer Converter by T. Penrose
Page Designer 2 Plus
C-68 Compiler- New Version Received
Hermes Co-Processor from QView
eFORTH Compiler by Salvador Merino
maus.comp.ql by Franz Herrman
Copying MSDOS Files by Mel LaVerne
Flightdeck - Review by Joe La Punzina
QL Spares and Repairs - Bob Dyl
Lonely Joker - Review by Dick Taylor
New From Jochen Merz Software
News From Miracle Systems
RRM MAMAQA MAM AO MOI A AOOAPsg- AOA AF SAO
HLULILUTULILULULLLLTULLLLTLEELEE
July/August
1992
Vol. 2 No. 2 $5.00
15 Kilburn Court, Newport, Rhode Island, USA 02840
Merzisonware
Software. |DevelopmentL1QU—solteaHardware\Distributor, > socal apa
iTelephoneyand|
tinestllsn Wii ta = RG Delish
Gtrte CAND SIERO Gamay
NEWS .. NEWS .. NEWS
QD Version 4 - The first (and only) Editor using the PE. Dynamic memory allo-
cation, no limit on nrs of lines, comfortable block-hondling ond meny, mony
new feotures, e.g. improved print menu, better seorch/reploce, GOTO Proce.
dure ond Function, even Machine code label. With new Menu Config which oF
lows you to configure all programs using the stondord CONFIG block, but menu
driven. £38 DM 112,10 $60.80
QMenu ~ the Menu Extension V3_ QMenu is o very ensy to use intedoce
with pre-defined menus (e.g. multi~column file-select, simplechoice boxes, se-
lect from lists, error handling). These menus may be used from SuperBASIC, mo-
chine code ond other longuoges. £13 DM 38,35 $20.80
QSUP ~ System Utility Package _ Different sorts of progroms and exter-
sions which help you setting up and using your machine (e.g. Tronslotion-Toble
Editor, Notepod). £26 DM 76,70 $41.60
Thing & EPROM Manager Do you wont to put your Extensions, Things, Jobs
etc. into EPROM? The EPROM Manoger helps you by creating files which ore
ready-to-burn. It contains also the very useful Thing Extenion I, which gives
you full control over Things from SuperBASIC. £18.50 DM 54,58 $29.60
Fifi - the FileFinder Running under the PE, Fifi is easy to use ond extremely
useful. FF scons devices or directory trees ond searches files or filenames for
strings. Combinations ore possible, e.g. String] AND string? BUT NOT string3
etc. £13 DM 38,25 $20.80
DISA - Intelligent Disassembler which ollows you to disossemble interok-
tively ony kind of mochine-code. Pointer-controlled. £27 DM 80 $44
QDOS Reference Manual ~ This book is o must for all m-code progrom
mers, It explains how to use QDOS, all trops ond vectors, the Thing System, the
HOTKEY System Il ond much more. It points out which features work on o QL.
‘on Emulator and how to write compatible for future operating systems. DIN AS,
over 170 poges. £27 DM 80 $44
QPTR - The Pointer Environment Toolkit Revised monual which describes
how to use the Pointer Interface and the Window Manager from SuperBASIC
‘ond machine code, even how to setup stondard CONFIG tables. QPTR comes
with examples on disc. All necessary keys, mocros ond extensions for SupeSA-
SiCore supplied. £30 DM 88,50 $48
FLP/RAM Level 2 — Replacement EPROM for SuperQBoards (V1.17 onwards,
with & without mouse) or TrumpCard (please specify}! Reol subdirectories! QL-
Emulator and Gold~Cord compatible! With ATR-device (to reod ond write MS-
DOS/ATARI discs). About twice os fost, with improved slave-block-handling!
(NotJM ROMs!) £18 DM 53,10 $28.80
EASYPTR II - Creote your own PE menus & sprites, use them in your own Su
perBASIC or machine-code programs. Creating Menus was not eosy, until now!
Put oll the items you need on screen, that's it! Mony exomples ond improved
manuel! £49 DM 144,55 $78.40
QDesign Il ~ Graphic— and Design-program. Running completely under
the PE! Supports the Extended Mode4. Do you think onything else is to soy
bout a very good graphics progrom?!
For all 9 ond 24 pin printers, Deskjet ond Loserjet £48 DM 140 $77
Font-Vector-Editor for QDesign £19 DM 56,05 $30.40
SYSTEM ~ System Tools for QDOS: reol file-ottributes ore odded, eg.
write-only, hidden or for selected users only. Works even over net ond on winch
ester. New TRAPE3. New devices (equivalent to Ql-Emulotor): nomed pipes,
MEM, NUL 80 new procs & functions, e.g. WSET_FATTR. WSET_FIYPE,
WSET_FVERS, ADIR, ASTAT; HK_GETBFS. £27.50 DM 85,- $45
NEW: SER Mouse ~ Software driver which allows you to connect a serial
(e.g. DOS) mouse to one of the serial ports of the Ql which then mimics the
QIMI interface. In addition to the functions of the QIMI, if you have o
three-button mouse the following features are available: ESC on centre
button, lefttcentre is Wake, right+centre is Sleep. £14.90 DM 44 $25
2X8301 £5.90 DM 17,41 $9.44
2X8302 £5.90 DM 17,41 $9.44
QL-Emulator for ATARI ST
If you are interested in buying a Ql-Emulator for the ATARI ST ronge and
you still do not know what you will get, then you should write to get more
information. £139 DM 376 $225
New Emulator initialisation software together with Level E.15 or
higher plus full support of 68020/68030 boards is coming soon!
Jochen Merz Software is the largest supplier of high quality software that runs under QUUMP’s Pointer Environment
(PE). This hardware-independent environment is the very advanced and easy to use windowing system for QDOS, that
is the path to the future for QL users. We support the PE by supplying software development tools, documentation and
the QL-Emulator. For more details on our complete range of products write or send a fax!
Diamonds £11 DM 32,45 $17.60
BrainSmasher £12 DM 35.40 $19.20
Arcanoid £10 DM 29,50 $16
Firebirds £10 DM 29,50 $16
SuperGamesPack £25 DM73,75 $40
QShang £14 DM 41,30 $22.40
The lonely Joker!
The lonely Joker is a solitaire card game based on three different potiences
Echelon, Napoleon and Cascade. All three games are very addictive, with
different variations. It is easy to control by mouse or kebyoord and runs
under the PE. System requirement: 384k RAM and Toolkit I!
£14.90 DM44 $25
NEW! NEW! NEW! NEW! NEW!
QSpread is completely mouse~ and keyboard- controllable and uses, of
course, the Menu Extension. Windows may be enlarged up to the maximum
screen area (i.e. large parts of the table visible on the Extended4-Emulator
and forthcoming larger screen sizes), the application window may be split in
up to three different horizontal and vertical sections, giving 9 independent
controllable areas.
QSpread is, in the opposit to Abacus, formulae-orientoted, giving the ad
vantage that the formula of every cell may be modified at any time
(whereas Abacus sometimes gives the numerical value of o calculation
only). The formulae-parser has 22 scientific function, and, of course, the
standard ones like row(), column(), sum, average etc. Every cell may be for-
matted independently, with many options (justification, decimal point etc.)
and with preview. The monetary symbol may be longer than one character,
e.g. DM. Sum- and other often-used macro-functions.
The size of the sheet is only limited by memory (16000 cells need about
400kBytes).
Easiest block handling by mouse. Block entry is very easy and useful, espe
Gially if you have a numerical pad: you select the block and enter the values
one ofter the other. They are automatically place in the right order. No cur:
sor-keys-action necessary!
Many additional functions, which belong to today's standard-equipment.
Help, Button-function, use of the Scrop, all standard file operations, coleu
lation order row or columns etc.
QSpread introductory price £49 (available in July)
Our update policy is very generous: updates on most products are free!
Upgrades (i.e. major improvements on the products) are available at small
charges. In general you only have to pay if new manuals are required. For
updates and upgrades, just retum the original disc and enough return
postage (none, if updates come with an order, £2 (DM 5,90 $3.20) for up
to 5 discs or £4 (DM 11.80 $6.40) for more.
Upgrade to QD Version 4 from V3 £10 DM 29,50 $16
Upgrade to QSUP from QSYS lor Il £19 DM 56,05 $30.40
Upgrade to QPTR (with new manual) £14 DM 41,30 $22.40
Upgrade to EasyPTR Il from V1 £13 DM 38,35 $20.80
Upgrade to QDesign Version Il £13 DM 28,75 $20.80
New Emulator manual £6 DM 17,70 $9.60
We are selling the full range of Software87
products in German and English!
Please add £4.50 (DM 13.20) for postage and package (Europe)
or $7 for one item and $4 for every further item (Overseas). No
extra charge on credit cards! All prices excl. VAT. EBOE
EDITORIAL
NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND, USA - THE EDITORIAL STAFF
With the approach of summer in the Northern Hemisphere, comes a wealth of NEW
products for the QL. Some like HERMES, a new co-processor, and QSPREAD, a new
spreadsheet are major developments (see the articles pertaining to them in this issue).
Others can be considered to be major upgrades. In this category are two offerings by
Digital Precision of the UK; the first is "GOLD CONQUEROR "(software PC emulator),
and the second is "GOLD PERFECTION" (Word Processor). As the prefix GOLD
would indicate, both have been re-worked to take FULL advantage of Miracle's Gold
Card.
On the Public Domain/Shareware front, two major offerings (both in the language
category) are eFORTH from SPAIN, and Version 3 of the C-68 Compiler (we expect
to have both of these by the time you read this. Contact Bob at IQLR for details).
We have finally received the D-I-Y TOOLKIT (see IQLR vol. 2 issue 1) from the UK,
and can supply the three disks in 3.5" and 5.25" 720K format (sorry, not available on
microdrive cartridges). The price is $50.00 plus $5.00 S & H in North America and
$50.00 plus $7.00 S & H to the rest of the world.
We have a number of new software programs from C.G.H. SERVICES, and one from
N.A.S.A. the Norwegian All Sinclair Association. All of these programs are commercial
offerings and have been sent to us for REVIEW. They are:
"SToQL" this is a Atari ST screen transfer and image processing program for the QL
written by Rich Mellor and Alan Pemberton.
“SCRIPTWRITER" is the successor to QL Playwright and is a text processor and
formatting program written by Andy Pritchard.
"3D TERRAIN" is a program to generate 3D graphical representations of Abacus
spreadsheet data written by Ian Thompson and Rich Mellor.
"ROCK-FALL" is a Boulderdash Clone for the QL written by Andrew Toone.
"DICEY BUSINESS" from Norway is a Football Manager (SOCCER) program. This
program requires a knowledge of Soccer and was written by Johnny Vik.
If you'd be interested in reviewing one of these programs for a future issue of IQLR, we'd
like to hear from you. For those of you that have always wanted to contribute an article to
one of the QL newsletters or other publications, this is a painless way to get your feet wet.
ANNIVERSARY ISSUE : We'd be remiss, if we didn't thank all of you who took the time
to write or call, congratulating IQLR on our Anniversary Issue. We'll try to live up to your
accolades.
NEWS FROM MIRACLE SYSTEMS
OSBALDWICK, YORK, UNITED KINGDOM
Miracle is now shipping their re-designed DISK ADAPTER (allows the use of up to 4 disk
45
NEWS FROM MIRACLE - cont'd
drives with Trump or Gold Cards), and they are presently re-designing their QL
CENTRONICS interface, we've been told that the new version will fit under the hood of a
Centronics male connector and eliminate the need for the box.
They are continuing to work on the many new projects mentioned in our last issue. Miracle
can be reached at:
MIRACLE SYSTEMS LTD
25 Broughton Way
Osbaldwick, York YO13BG
United Kingdom
Tel: 0904 423986
Also reported, they have turned over the rights of the TRUMP CARD (768K of additional
memory plus disk drive interface), and EXPANDERAM (a 512K memory add-on) to Ron
Dunnett of QUBBESOFT. Ron is shipping the TRUMP CARD with a new A4 (approx.
8.5" X 11.5") manual. For more information on TRUMP CARDS or EXPANDERAMS
contact Ron at:
QUBBESOFT
38 Brunwyn Road
Rayne, Braintree, Essex CM7 5BU
United Kingdom
Tel: 0376 347 852
Ed. Note: Ron Dunnett was recently elected Chairperson of QUANTA, Phil Borman did
not stand for re-election but remains a Committee Member.
MATCHER : An ARCHIVE Utility Program
CORNISH, NEW HAMPSHIRE - U.S.A. - BILL CABLE
We have all had the experience of receiving 2 or 3 copies of the same catalog each with a
slightly different version of our address on it. Mail order companies buy address databases
from many sources and often the same address may be in more than one in a slightly
different form. This fools the company into mailing multiple catalogs to the same address.
Even a simple weeding of addresses would save a lot of mailing and printing costs. There
is no doubt that having a database of specialized information can be an extremely valuable
commodity. But one also needs to have the programming power to screen the data and
verify its consistency.
I recently had such a need with some ARCHIVE address databases. I wanted to do a
mailing using my own and another one provided to me. First I used some utilities on my
DBProgs disk. I made the fields match (refield program) and then joined them (join
program). But at the time, I didn't have a program designed to locate duplicate addresses
and so did it as best I could manually. I found most of them and got my mailing out.
I decided to write a program to help me do a better job next time and listed below you see
the results. I call it MATCHER because its basic function is to find fields that match in any
ARCHIVE database. It matches on only one field but because it orders on up to 4 fields
you effectively get matching on up to 4 fields if the matching field is the last in the order
46
MATCHER - cont'd
sequence. Even though I convert everything to lower case for matching to eliminate
upper/lower case differences, I felt ! needed a way to match even with simple misspellings
and spacing differences. I added a matching option called ‘fuzzy' which strips out all
spaces and characters not a-z and eliminates any double characters (so O Rilley and O'Riley
would both match as oriley). The string manipulations needed to for ‘fuzzy' matching
slowed the program down considerably but when I ran it I found 2 duplications in my
address database I hadn't known about before.
Not all ARCHIVE users have address databases or care about checking for duplicates. So
lL added a single line display option that creates reports giving the distribution of values in a
field. Instead of focusing just on matches it shows everything in the database. It is easy to
make a listing of people in each state (country, city, etc) in an address database. In the
GAZET database supplied with ARCHIVE you can get a list of countries by continents or
countries by population, etc. Any ARCHIVE user can display and print information in
their databases in new and interesting ways. I also added options like printing output and
suppressing displays so the program can multitask unobtrusively and print to the printer
while you are doing other computing.
All ARCHIVE users should have this utility handy. It is easily modified for special
applications. It takes enormous effort to build databases so we need all the help we can get
to maintain that investment. I have sacrificed some clarity by arranging the code to
maximize line length but not exceed 80 characters. This greatly reduces the length of the
listing. You don't have to know the ARCHIVE language to type it in. And running it is
the best way to learn how to use it. The program is easy to run but complex in coding.
The documentation is sparse because of space limitations. Typing it in while consulting the
ARCHIVE documentation is a very good way to learn ARCHIVE programming. This is a
new program and I have debugged it as much I can but be watchful and please report any
bugs to me. Although the database is only accessed by ‘look’ and is not vulnerable, you
should always have backup copies of your files. This utility is in the public domain and
will be available from various libraries. An enhanced version of this program plus many
other useful ARCHIVE utilities are available from me as DBProgs for $19.95 :
Wood and Wind Computing
RR3 Box 92
Cornish, NH 03745
(603) 675-6081
For those who are interested in learning more about ARCHIVE, I recommend my articles
in past and future issues of UPDATE MAGAZINE, P O Box 1095, Peru, IN 46970.
To enter the program just start ARCHIVE, type: EDIT<ENTER> and enter it procedure by
procedure. The ARCHIVE editor will automatically indent like the listing. If your
indentions don't match the listing then you have a mistake. Exit the editor to save (SAVE
command) or print (LLIST command) the program. To run the program you need to load
it, if it isn't already (LOAD command), and type: matcher<ENTER>. Those of you who
typed in my REPLACE program appearing in a previous IQLR issue have already done
half the work. You only need add those procedures that are new and delete those not in the
listing (if desired).
Test it out on the GAZET database by displaying country, continent, and capital and
ordering on continent, country. Use the single line display and match on continent. You
47
MATCHER - cont'd
will get a list of each continent with its countries in alphabetical order. Try ordering by
population, country and then currency, country. In an address database to get a list of
people by state (country, city) first set up display as you wish then match on state (country,
city) and use single line display. To find duplicates in an address database set up the
display as desired, order by first name, last name and match on last name and use multiple
line display. Only matches will be displayed. Try again ordering by street, last name. Try
again with 'fuzzy' matching (runs slow). The range of the database determines the best
strategy for finding duplicates. If you want to stop at any time just press <ESC>a few
times and you can start over.
Happy Achiving Bill Cable 6/92
LISTING OF MATCHER
proc acky;line,m$,v$
rem Prints message (m$) at line and asks for <ENTER> to be pressed
liny;line,v$: print v$;m$;". Press <ENTER> : ";v$;: input i$:liny;line,""
endproc
proc close_all
rem Closes files until there are no more to close
while 1: close : endwhile
endproc
proc columns
rem Figures out how many equal columns will fit on a line
let i=0: let j=0: while i<>len(f1$): let i=instr(fl$(i+1 to len(fI$)),",")+i
if i: let j=j+1: endif : endwhile : let col=int(79/))
endproc
proc defy;line,m$,d$,v$
rem Requests input and returns value in ans$ (m$-message, d$-default value)
liny;line,v$,"": print v$;m$;" [<ENTER> if "";d$;""] : "3:1
if ans$="": let ans$=d$: endif : if ans$: let ans$="":
print at line,len(m$)+1;" : ";rv$;" "jan: Tv$; tab 80;v$;
endproc
proc displaying;1
rem Displays and prints matches in multiple or single line format
let i$=f1$: let i=instr(i$,","): if 1 and mld: print at 1,0;: endif
let j=0: let k=cnt+4: if k>21: let k=23: endif
while i: let fn=int(val(i$(1 to i))): if fn>=0 and fn<numfld(): let j=j+col
if |: if mld: print fieldn(fn); tab 13;": ";fieldv(fn); tab 79
else : if j=col: print at k,0;: endif : if fieldt(fn)
z I$: ae else : let 1$=str(fieldv(fn),3,0): endif
let I$="_ "+1
if len(l$)>col: let 1$=1$(1 to col): print 1$; tab j;: endif
else : if mld: Iprint fieldn(fn); tab 1 ieldv(fn)
else : Iprint" ";fieldv(fn); tab j;: endif : endif : endif
if i<len(i$): let i$=i$(i+1 to len G@$)): let i=instr@$,","): else
let i=0: endif : endwhile : if not sup and not mld: print tab 79;: endif
endproc
proc field_show
rem Shows fields of a database in more than one screen if necessary
let pg=1: cls
48
MATCHER - cont'd
print "Fields of ";dv$;db$; tab 40;count();" records"; tab 70;"page ";pg
let i=0: let r=2: let c=1: while i<numfld(): let i$=num(i,3)
print at r,wid*(c-1);i$;" ";fieldn(i);: let i=i+1: let r=r+1
if r>rows+1: let c=c+1: let r=2: if c>cols and i<numfld()
input at 23,1;"Press <ENTER> for more : ";i$: let c=1
let pg=pg+l: cls : print "Fields of ";dv$;db$; tab 70;"page ";pg
endif : endif : endwhile
endproc
proc fuzy;i$
rem Eliminates all characters except a-z and takes out repeated characters
let ans$="": if i$<>"": let i$=lower(i$): let i=len(i$): let j$=""
while i: let j=code(i$(i)): if j>=97 and j<=122 and j$<>i$(i)
let ans$=i$(i)+ans$: let j$=i$(i): endif : let i=i-1: endwhile : endif
endproc
proc header;i$
rem Clears screen and prints heading
paper spap: cls : paper hpap: ink hink: print rept(" ",160);
print at 0,1; tab (80-len(i$))/2;upper(i$); at 3,0;: paper spap: ink sink
endproc
proc inp
rem Reverses screen an
print rv$;: input" ";ans$;
endproc
proc inpy;line,m$,v$
rem Prompts for input with message (m$), use v$ to reverse screen
pie asa v8: print v$;m$+" : ";:inp: print v$;
endproc
proc key_choice;i,i$,j$,k$
rem Prompts for single key input which must be in j$ before returning
let ans$="": while not instr(j$,ans$) or len(ans$)<>1
print at i,0;k$; tab 80; at i, 1;i “srv$;" "jrv$;k$;
let ans$=lower(getkey()): if not instr(j$,ans$)
acky;i,"Press the SINGLE KEY corresponding to the desired action" rv$
endif : endwhile : print k$;rv$;ans$;" ";rv$; tab 80;k$;
endproc
proc liny;line,v$
rem Clears at line specified
if line
print at line,0;v$; tab 80;v$;: print at line,1;: else : print : endif
endproc
proc make_tmp
rem Set up temporary file to hold output (used to hold program to be merged)
spoolon dx$+"matcherx_tmp" export
endproc
proc matcher
rem Main program. Gets scratch device and loops on databases
error close_all: let clw$=chr(27)+"B":rem clears below cursor
mode 0: let ign=0: let hpap=5: let hink=0: let spap=0: let sink=5: let It$:
let rv$=chr(0)+chr(26): let rows=20: let cols=4: let wid=80/cols: let kc$=""
header;"MATCHER : a record matching program for archive databases"
49
MATCHER .- cont'd
print at 2,38;"V1.0 For Public Domain Bill Cable 6/92"; at 4,0;
print "Display (and print) records matching on a field within any database."
print " Matching can be exact (case ignored) or ‘fuzzy’ plus there are many"
print " other options. The program runs fastest using files in RAM.": print
print "One important use is to find duplicate records in an address database."
print " Breakdowns by fields such as addresses in each state or whatever can"
print " be easily made. Clever ordering will yield all sorts of information"
print " in a database. The database is accessed by ‘look’ and is not altered."
defy;13,"Device for scratch pad (ram1_,flp1_,mdv1_,etc)","ram1_","
if ans$="": mode 1: stop : endif : let dx$=ans$
msg; 14,"checking scratch pad",""
error make_tmp: if errnum(): let i$=str(errnum(),2,0)
acky;23,"Scratch pad access of device "+dx$+" failed. Err = "+i$,""
mode 1: stop : else : spooloff : endif
while 1
defy;23,"Source database device (ram1_,flp1_,mdv1_,etc)",
let dv$=ans$: dir dv$: inpy;23," "Database name [ Will not be seed] ey
if ans$="": mode 1: stop : endif : let db$=ans$
if not instr(db$,"_"): ia db$=db$+"_dbf": endif : look dv$+db$:field_show
print at 22,0;"Below separated by commas list field numbers for display"
defy;23,"Field numbers to display","0","": let fl$=ans$+","
": let fl$="0"+f1$: endif :columns
" “ram:
ield numbers to order on (max of 4)","0","": let dl$=ans$+","
let dl$="0"+dl$: endif
t_ord:match_loop: error close_all
yorn;23,"Files Closed. Do another",""
if ans$="n": mode 1: stop : endif
endwhile
endproc
proc match_check
rem Check for match and displays (and prints) as necessary
next : if not eof():to_text: if xf1$ xf$
if ign: if fieldt(x et ism=0: return : endif
else : if xf$="0": let ism=0: return : endif : endif : endif
let ment=ment+1: let ent=cnt+1: if not sup: print at 3,58;ment;
endif : back : if not sup and mld:displaying;5: endif
if prt and mld: Iprint : lprint "MATCH ";ment:displaying;0: endif
let ism=1: next : if not sup:displaying; 14: endif : if prt: Iprint
displaying;0: endif : if qry: let i$=str(ment,2,0)
key_choice;23,"Match "+i$+". Press key - C(ontinue) E(xit)","ce",""
if ans$="e": last : endif : endif
else : let ism=0: endif : else : let ism=0: endif
endproc
proc match_loop
rem Loops on specified database to set options and match
while 1:header; "Finding matches in "+dv$+db$
print at 2,2;"Order : ";ord$; tab 60;"Match on ";fieldn(xf)
yorn;5, "Setup Matching using currently defined order",""
if ans$="n": return : endif : if f£2<>-1
": let j$="":yorn;6,"Match on field "+fieldn(xf),"": if ans$="n"
50
MATCHER - cont'd
if f4<>-1: let i$ jet j$=" 4) "+fieldn(f4): endif : if f3<>-1
let i$=i$+"3": let j$=" 3) "+fieldn(£3)+j$: endif : let i$=i$+"2"+"1"
let j$="Choose Match field 1) "+fieldn(f1)+" 2) "+fieldn(f2)+j$
key_choice;6,j$,i$,"": let xf=value("f"+ans$): endif
print at 2,69;fieldn(xf): endif
yorn;7," "Use multiple line display (instead of single line) of matches",
if ans$="y ": let mid=1: else : let mld=0: endif
worts8\ Pause on each match",""
if ans$="y": let qry=1: else : let qry=0: endif
yorn;9," "Print matches to printer",""
if ansso"y: let prt=1: else : let prt=0: endif
Suppress displays to screen (if multitasking)",
: let sup=1: else : let sup=0: endif
se fuzy matching in "+fieldn(xf),""
"y": let fuz=1: else : let fuz=0: endif
yorn;12,"Ignore empty matches in "+fieldn(xf),
if ans$="y": let ign=1: else : let ign=0: endif
if prt: let i$=" (have printer online)": else : let i$="": endif
yorn;23,"Do matching as specified" +i$,""
if ans$="y": first : let ment=0: let i=count(): liny;23,"": if not sup
print at 3,1;clw$; tab 20;"Of ";i;" have checked ‘and matched 0"
else : print "Checking ";i;" records for matches (printing suppressed)"
endif : if prt: lprint "MATCHING RECORDS in "+dv$+db$: let j$=""
if fuz: let j$="Fuzzy ": endif
Iprint" Records : ";i; tab 25;"Order : ";ord$
Iprint tab 50;j$;"Match on ";fieldn(xf): Iprint
Iprint : endif : let ism=0: let cnt=0: while not eof()
if not sup: print at 3,41;recnum()+1;: endif : if not ism
to_text: let xf1$=xf$: let Icnt=cnt: let cnt: not mld: if not sup
print at 4,1;clw$;fieldv(xf);" Matches":displaying; 1: endif
if prt: if recnum()<>0: Iprint tab 72;" ";lent: endif
Iprint : Iprint fieldv(xf);" Matches":displaying;0: endif
endif : endif :match_check: endwhile
acky;23,"Matching complete with "+str(ment,2,0)+" matches","": endif
endwhile
endproc
proc msg;line,m$,v$
rem Prints message (m$) at line in normal or reverse (v$)
liny;line,v$: print v$;"{"+m$+"}";v$;
endproc
proc ordering
msg;23,"ordering flp2_qlmail_dbf",""
order s7_$;a,s1_$;a
endproc
proc set_ord
rem Takes ordering list and sets up ordering procedure and does it
msg;23,"setting up ordering procedure",""
let k=0: let f1=-1: let £2=-1: let f3=-1: let f4=-1
let i$=dl$: let j$="": let i=O:set_ord2
if j>=0 and j<numfld(): let f1=j:set_ord3: let xf=fl
if i<len(i$):set_ord2
Sl
MATCHER - cont'd
if j>=0 and j<numfld(): let f2=j:
if i<len(i$):set_ord2
if j>=0 and numfldQ: let f3:
if i<len(i$):set_ord2
if j>=0 and numfld(): let f4=j:set_ord3: let xf=f4
endif : endif : endif : endif : endif : endif : endif
if j$<>"": let j$=j$(1 to len(j$)-1): endif : let ord$=j$
make_tmp: Iprint "proc ordering"
Iprint "msg;23,'ordering ";dv$;db$;"",""
Iprint "order ";ord$: Iprint "endproc"
spooloff : merge dx$+"matcherx_tmp":ordering
endproc
proc set_ord2
rem Strips field numbers out of comma list
let i$=i$(i+1 to len(i$)): let i=instr($,
if i>1: let j=val(i$(1 to i-1)); else : let j=-1:
endproc
proc set_ord3
rem Puts field names in ARCHIVE order command format
let j$=j$+fieldn(val(i$(1 to i-1)))+";a"+","
endproc
proc to_text
rem Puts match field in xf$ whether text field (fuzzy) or numeric field
set_ord3: let xf=f2
:set_ord3: let xf=f3
let xf$="": if fieldt(xf): if fuz:fuzy;fieldv(xf): let xf$=ans$: else
let xf$=lower(fieldv(xf)): endif : else : let xf$=str(fieldv(xf),3,0)
endif
endproc
proc yorn;line,m$,v$
rem querry message (m$) at ea for yes or no answer
let ans$="": while ans$: and ans$<>"n"sliny;line,v$
print v$;m$+" [ y/n]: : let ans$=lower(ans$): print v$;: endwhile
endproc
NEW FROM JOCHEN MERZ SOFTWARE
DUISBURG, GERMANY
QSPREAD a spreadsheet for the 1990's is now being shipped. Written by Oliver Fink a
highly respected guru of the Pointer Environment, QSPREAD can be completely driven by
the mouse or the keyboard.
Windows may be enlarged up to the maximum screen area, the application window can be
split in up to three different horizontal and vertical sections, giving you nine independent
controllable areas.
QSPREAD is formulae-orientated, with the advantage that the formula of every cell may be
modified at any time. The formulae-parser has 22 scientific functions, plus the standard
ones like Row, Column, Sum, Average, etc., etc. Every cell may be formatted
independently with numerous options such as; Justification, Decimal Point, etc.
52
NEW FROM MERZ - cont'd
The monetary symbol can be longer than one character, e.g. DM, Sum, etc., plus other
often-used macro-functions. Block entry is easy and useful, especially if you have a
numerical keypad. You select the block and enter the values one after the other, they are
automatically placed in the right order. NO cursor key action is necessary.
The price of QSPREAD is 49 Pounds Sterling. ALL major credit cards accepted. To place
an order contact:
JOCHEN MERZ SOFTWARE
Im stillen Winkel 12
W-4100 Duisburg 11
Germany
Tel: 0203 501 274
Ed. Note: Jochen Merz's telephone can receive FAX as well as voice communications.
SUPER DISK INDEX Dilwyn Jones Computing
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, USA - ALAN HODGE
Most cataloguing methods applied to collections of items, be they books or chapters in a
book, involve relatively complex indexing techniques such as alternating between numerals
(Arabic or Roman) and alphabetical characters. On the other hand, it is generally simpler,
and often preferable, to use a straightforward numerical order when dealing with
collections of closely similar objects such as phonograph records. Thus it is that, what
would seem at first to be a major shortcoming of this highly useful program, is actually a
blessing in disguise.
The inability to label a disk with anything other than a number from 1 to 999 will definitely
motivate less than compulsive QL users to organize their usual haphazard assortment of
disks and microdrive cartridges into more rational collections or even sensible groups.
Each disk within a group can then be assigned a suitable number in an appropriately titled
Index of directories. I suspect that most users will require several such Indexes in order to
adequately cover the various categories of media in their collections. I know I had to, and
it has all turned out for the best. I can now find in a remarkably short time any small
obscure file hiding anywhere in my collection, and all thanks to the application of the
excellent search facilities provided by Super Disk Index to my now quite well organized
media.
In my own case, because I have two hybrid dual disk drives, one a 3" / 3-1/2"
combination, the other a 5-1/4" / 3-1/2" unit, I have so far found it best to make a total of
four indexes, viz., one each for the 5-1/4", 3-1/2" and 3" disks, as well as one for my
microdrive cartridges.
Fortunately, I had planned that the 3-1/2" drive would in each dual drive unit be designated
flp2_, the usual default data disk. This allows use of the same data disks in both disk drive
systems, and also enables me in most cases to transfer operational programs from a 5-1/4"
disk via a 3-1/2" to the 3" flp1_ disk. This is most easily accomplished using Taskmaster
in both systems.
53
SUPER DISK INDEX - cont'd
SUPER DISK INDEX runs very well, and allows the operator to pursue his own aims
by means of well designed menus. There are excellent sorting facilities, e.g, even a fairly
large index of 1200 files can be alphabetized in less than 13 seconds (with a Gold Card). A
most useful feature is that on reverting to disk number order after alphabetizing, it will be
found that the individual disk directories are now alphabetical.
The ability of the program to select an appropriate number of columns both on the screen
and when printing to paper is very impressive, and saves a lot of paper to boot. In some
cases, such as when printing out a listing of files containing a designated "search word", it
is wise to allow the program to print to the screen first by refusing the printer prompt, then
deciding whether to commit the list to paper. This is easily done by going back and
repeating the search. The printing options are also excellent. It is a snap to print out
individual disk directories in two or more columns depending on the number of files and
length of the file names. The number of columns is ‘intelligently’ selected by the program,
usually with gratifying results. It is equally simple to obtain a nice printout of files selected
by the two search techniques available to the user. However, note the caveat in the
previous paragraph.
The program lacks one feature which I personally miss. It fails to read and show the name
impressed on the disk or cartridge during the formatting process. From my point of view,
this is unfortunate because it is right in this name or title that I store relevant information
such as the type of program (or its original name), whether it is a backup copy, and so on.
This can, of course, be read by any directory routine and would normally be written on the
disk label anyway. Still, it would be a nice addition to any update.
A simple program which I have used for years (probably originating from the New
England QL group) enables me to print out the name, remaining memory and directory of a
disk or microdrive cartridge for storage with these media, and is as follows:
100 OPEN #3, serl: DIR #3, flp1_: STOP
200 OPEN #3, serl: DIR #3, flp2_: STOP
300 OPEN #3, serl: DIR #3, mdv1_: STOP
400 OPEN #3, serl: DIR #3, mdv2_: STOP
I usually load it by going to the Superbasic option while running Taskmaster, loading it
from one of the disks, then LISTing. The routine is activated by a simple GO TO
command and is self-terminating. I have kept a copy of it under the name DIRprnt on
nearly all my program and data disks so that it would be readily available for loading and
implementation. Of course, this should not be as necessary from now on since I shall now
be able to instantly find a disk or cartridge containing it on my printout made using the
search facility, always assuming I can find the listing. Better yet, I can always load one of
my indexes and do a simple visual search.
Writing as a humble, chastened, but now relatively well organized user of QL magnetic
media, it gives me great pleasure to heartily recommend this excellent software to all my
esteemed QL colleagues.
Ed Note: See the Dilwyn Jones Computing Ad on the back cover for price and ordering
information.
54
CGP-220 COLOR PRINTER CONVERTER
JUPITER, FLORIDA, USA - TAYLOR S. PENROSE
I wrote the program that follows to overcome the difficulty of generating QL characters on
my CGP-220 (an older Radio Shack/Tandy printer, which I believe to be one of the first
color ink-jet printers). With a little tinkering you can get this program to work with any dot
matrix printer. In fact, if you've got the time or inclination, you might make the following
changes:
1) Make it so that the QL character code accesses an array of printer character
codes.
2) Make itso that your printer will generate the graphics codes to emulate the QL
codes your printer will not support directly.
3) If you go for change #1 you'll have to be devious with change #2, as the codes
to generate graphics are normally a sequence of codes.
4) Finally, figure out how it can be speeded up.
Good Luck !! I intend to tackle items 1 thru 3, but on item #4 your on your own. Take
care for now. If you would like to share input with this project, I can be reached thru
IQLR.
100 DEFine PROCedure cnvrt(text$)
110 FOR L=1 TO LEN(text$) :t=CODE(text$(L)) :IF t<127 :NEXT L
(ED.NOTE: we are listing the rest of this program in columns and from left to right to
Save space and to aid in inputing the code.)
140 =129 :t=206
170 =132
200 =135
230 =138
120 SELect ON t
150 =130 :t=211
180 =133 :t=207
210 =136 :t=162
240 =139: 260 =141
270 =142 :t=192 290 =144
300 =145 :t=193
330 =148 : 350 =150
360 =151: 380 =153
390 =154 :t=188 410 =156
420 =157 :t=180 440 =159
450 =160 :t=177 470 =162 :t=210
480 =163 :t=215 500 =165:
510 =166 :t=212 530 =168:
540 =169 :t=214 560 =171:
570 =172: 590 =174:
600 =175: 620 =177 :
630 =178: 650 =180 :
660 =181: 680 =183:
690 =184: 710 =186:
720 =187: 740 =189:
750 =190:
800 END SELect :text$(L)=CHR$(t) END FOR L
55
A Quantum Leap in QL Wordprocessing
text57 plus4
+] USER FRIENDLY TO THE EXTREME
You will hardly ever need our new well-written manual. An
automatic setup and Installation program allows you to select a
suitable driver for your printer and copies all the necessary files to
your disk. Run plus4 and a menu allows you to load a file of start a
new one. An extra line of Instructions and another line containing
the current setting are displayed. Press <F1> and a window offers
more help related to the menu options (context-sensitive). If you
select Load you do not have to remember the file name; Just press
<UP> of <DOWN> for a list. Use the same keys to select the file that
you wish and press <ENTER>.
This user-frlendly command system goveins the program In every
‘area. Extensive context-sensttive help is only an <Fl> away. No
need to type In filenames. etc. if the program can offer a list Ino
selector box. Commands and key-presses are highly compatible
with those used in Quill and function keys perform the same
operations.
+2 THE MOST POWERFUL QL WP
Plus4 provides all the navigation and editing facilities you would
expect and a lot more. Extensive editing facilities include cursor
move (by character. word, line, paragraph, screen. page) erase
(by character. word, line) block operations (copy. move. delete)
goto (ine, page. top, bottom, section. block). Insert and overwrite
modes. Very fast search and replace backwards and forwards.
case dependent and independent. Special characters include
hard-space, hyphenation, hard and soft hyphens. In operation
plus4 reformats the text as you edit and preserves the format of
each paragraph no matter how many different formats you use in
your text. Everything is automatic.
‘sa Quill user you would naturally expect your wordprocessor to remember
different tab and margin settings for a document. You would expect to freely
add to old texts without having to bother about those settings over and over
again. Not surprisingly, text87 is the only other QL program that supports this
it, user friendly feauure of Quill
File Operations include load, save, merge. block save (in plain
ASCII or as fully formatted document) import (Quill files retaining
bold, underlined, etc. or any other file, Including those exported
from Archive and Abacus or from other programs). The
combination of all these powerful commands enables you to
move text from one document to another effortiessly.
Integrated Spell Checker displays selector boxes for browsing the
dictionary and automatic replacement of the selected word. This
ls automatically capitalised if the original began with a capital.
Choose between large (over 210,000 words) and small English
dictionaries or French or German (all supplied with the program).
You can add any word in your text to the dictionary by just pressing
akey. Your word lists can be saved and loaded at will or added to
the dictionary on a permanent basis. (You can actually edit the
dictionaries to your requirements).
Multl-Window Multl-Document plus4 goes far beyond multi-
tasking. With one copy of plus4 up to 8 document windows can be
open simultaneously. Up to 8 files can be on screen and more than
one window can be open over a document so that you can edit
the text while looking at a different part of it or at a different
document. Resize. Zoom. Tile and Stack commands allow you to
arrange the windows manually or automatically and switch
instantly between them.
special offer expires at the end of August 1992.
1 If you have paid over £59 for any other QL wordprocessor you can upgrade to text87plus4 for
‘only £59. The manual from the other software is required as proof of purcharse (It will be punched and retumed to you) . This
For immediate dispatch, send orders (including credit card) to:
Software87, 33 Savernake Road, London NW3 2JU_ or to our US distributors EMSoft, Boston, MA
Page-Preview and Pagination Page and column ends are
constantly displayed on the screen. plus4 takes Into account all
the changes of line spacing (you can fine tune the line spacing In
different parts of the text between 0 and more than 1 Inch). The
Page preview command shows your text In full A4 (and other size)
pages. Each word Is represented by a rectangle. giving a realistic
picture of the printed page before you commit the text to paper
This command alone will save you a lot of time and effort.
+3 > UNRIVALLED PRINT QUALITY
In text and character formatting, text87plus4 Is miles ahead of the
so-called competition. Simply. no other QL program can produce
similar results. Used with the appropriate printer-driver, text87plus4
can utilise the different founts and character sizes bullt into modern
printers. tt fully supports proportional spacing (such as used for this
text) and justifies correctly. You can use any combination of small
and large founts on the same line and be assured of a perfect
printed result. You can set up multiple paragraph formats with
different margins and line-spacing for each. You can use any
combination of ordinary tabs with right. centre and decimal tabs in
each line of text. You can also format the page the way you want,
using several columns plus headers and footers. For desktop
publishing, you can use several different page layouts in the same
document.
WYSIWYG (what you sec is what you get~pronounced wizzy-wig)
Several years ago this word referred to the absence of printer control codes
from the screen. It is now used to distinguish word-processors which display|
different amounts of line-spacing and different character sizes and styles
‘(@g. double width, proportional). text87plus4 is the only QL wordprocessor
that can be called WYSIWYG by current standards.
+4 FASTEST QL WORDPROCESSOR
text87plus4 Is much faster than the so-called competition. Tested
‘on a QL with memory expansion, text87plus4 reformatted a
document of 385 lines after changing Its right margin in § seconds,
the other wordprocessor took 280 seconds! (this Is not a printing
error). Plus4 completed an automatic search/replace (58
instances) in the same document in § seconds, the other program
took 120 seconds! Even a single paragraph reformat took 6 fimes
longer on the other program. Scrolling the screen line-by-line was
65% faster with plus4. The speed Increase was even more (over
110%) when tested on an Atari. The test document was an ordinary
text included on the plus4 disk. Plus4 was set up with a screen fount
similar to the other program’s.
plus4 is supplied with over 30 ready-made printer drivers supporting Opin and
daisywheel printers. Extra drivers for 24pin, Bubblejet, Deskjet and laser
Printers suppor the resident lener-quality fount built ato the printer. All our
defined translates for QL's extended character set.
More information on printer drivers Is available on request
plus4 Is fully compatible with all QL roms. Gold Card, ST QL, etc.
Requires disk drive and 256K memory.
Prices (inclusive of Air Mail to overseas)
text87plus4 £79.00
upgrade to plus4 from v. 3.00 (limited period) £39.00
2488 chivers for 24pin and Bubbiejet printers £19.00
typeset90-deskjet drivers for all HP Deskjets £19.00
typeset90-Epson GQ3500/S000, EPL4100 /7 100 lasers £39.00
fountext88 + founted8? £39.00
Graphic driver for 9 & 24-pin printers with over 30 founts
HELPFUL HINT #1 - UN-NUMBERED BOOT
PROGRAMS
BANGOR, GWYNEDD, GREAT BRITON - DILWYN JONES
Following up a hint in a previous issue, boot programs do not have to be manually typed in
to add line numbers. You can, of course, load them into an editor and manually add line
numbers, but it is much easier to let the QL do it automatically.
This method has been tested on version JM and JS QL's and with the Gold Card, but not
on JSU, Minerva, or ST-QL's.
Type NEW to clear out the old BASIC program. Type AUTO as if starting to enter a new
program. The line number 100 will appear on the first line. Delete this number using the
standard CTRL LEFT or DEL keys (depending on the type of keyboard). You can now
enter direct commands.
Type in MERGE "flp1_BOOT" (or other applicable device). The QL will load the BOOT
program adding line numbers it as it goes. When it has finished loading, press BREAK
(CTRL space) to get out of the numbering and then save the numbered BOOT program!
My thanks to Norman Dunbar (author of WINBACK) for that little hint.
NEW !!! HERMES CO-PROCESSOR from QVIEW
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM
The QL's second processor, the Intelligent Peripheral Controller (IPC 8049), handles
sound and the serial port, as well as keyboard input. The code in the present 8049 suffers
from a number of problems:
SERIAL INPUT - Suffers from bad handshaking which can result in a loss of characters,
and worst yet a ‘serial overrun’ which can only be cured by a power-down.
KEYBOARD HANDLING - Key rollover doesn't work, and some keyboards, especially
the SCHON and KEYBOARD PRODUCTS, suffer from keybounce. There is a
‘debounce' 8749 available, but this destroys SER2 input.
BAUD RATES - Independent rates are not possible. Input at 9600 requires 2 stop bits,
and 19200 baud is impossible.
SOUND - Fuzzy and RANDOM on sound shift the underlying pitch. Sound duration is
dependent on pitch.
ENTER HERMES !!! The new HERMES co-processor corrects all of the above problems.
There's NO keyboard bounce, 2 key ROLLOVER even with shift, and fully reliable
SERIAL INPUT up to 19200 baud with 1 stop bit. (This assumes the IC25 output buffer is
fully functional, and handshaking is enabled at both ends and connected).
Different baud rates for SER1 and SER2 input lines, and separate from output. This can be
used to drive a serial mouse AND a printer from SER] at the same time. Open/closed
status of serial ports can be read.
s7
HERMES CO-PROCESSOR - cont'd
There is code to handle 3 spare I/O lines, one of which is used by the QVIEW capsled kit.
Three more input lines can be read. Key click can be toggled on and off, Reset/INT7 can
be invoked much more safely, and there is a function to return IPC version number.
The cost of the new HERMES Co-Processor is 25 Pounds Sterling, both VISA and
MASTERCARD are welcomed. You can purchase HERMES from:
TF SERVICES
12 Bouverie Place
London W2 1RB
United Kingdom
Tel: 071 724 9053
Fitting HERMES is a simple job, remove the top of the QL "carefully' (removing the 8
screws), replace the large IC marked '8049 next to microdrive 1. CAREFULLY re-
assemble your QL. A small extensions file needs to be loaded with RESPR. HERMES is
shipped with a manual and Software, please specify disk or microdrive cartridge.
HELPFUL HINT #2 - USING PRINTER CONTROL
CODES IN QUILL
BANGOR, GWYNEDD, GREAT BRITON - DILWYN JONES
Provided your printer is set to ignore the MSB (Most Significant Byte) of byte values sent
to it, (many are shipped with this as a default setting and normally this can be changed by a
DIP switch inside the printer or from software), it is possible to send control codes by
using CHR$(155) from the keyboard while in Quill.
On British QL's pressing CTRL and semi-colon produces an u with a circumflex accent
on top of it, which is CHR$(155).. CHR$(155) is CHR$(128+27), in other words if bit 7
is ignored, the 128 is not read and you are left with CHR$(27), which is the character code
for ESC, CHR$(155) may be in a different place on the keyboard in different countries so
you have to find it first! This opens up all sorts of possibilities. By following this
character with selected characters many printer codes can be generated. For example,
following it with a "4" switches italics on, while "5" turns italics off. Following it with
“M" switches to Elite pitch printing, while "P" gives Pica pitch printing. "w1" gives
double height characters (""w0" cancels it) if the printer concerned supports double height
characters and "W1" (Ed Note: Printer control codes are upper and lower case sensitive)
gives double width, while "WO" turns it off again. No doubt readers will find other ways
of making use of this. It enables us to stretch that little bit extra from good old Quill WP.
A PORTABLE FORTH MODEL, eFORTH
FUENGIROLA, MALAGA, SPAIN - SALVADOR MERINO
Salvador Merino has gratuitously provided this version of FORTH to readers of IQLR. In
order for you to determine if this package is something you might be interested in, we have
printed below, the starting instructions and sample entries. Instructions for obtaining a
copy of eFORTH are provided at the end of the article.
58
eFORTH - cont'd
eFORTH is the name of a FORTH model designed to be portable between a large number
of the newer and more powerful processors existing now, or becoming available in the near
future. FORTH for the QL is a version 32 bits absolute address and 32 bits stack.
STARTING eFORTH
To START eFORTH: Put eFORTH disk into FLP1. Then POWER QL ON and press the
Fl key. You will see the FORTH sign-on message:
eFORTH v1.03.
Push the <ENTER> key a number of times and you will see a series of 'ok' appear on the
left margin of your screen. eFORTH is now ready to accept commands.
To exercise EFORTH and to learn some of the more useful words in this system, try the
following words:
WORDS <ENTER>
Names of about 200 words will appear on the screen (remember any key to continue and
ENTER key to abort). These are the words that e€FORTH has in its dictionary. Word
names are not wrapped around the end of line. You will see names split between two lines.
eFORTH is a very lean system. Cosmetics were not a major concern in its present design.
eFORTH is case sensitive. Most words are in the upper case. Many system words not
intended for applications programming have lower case characters to make them difficult to
enter on the terminal. If you are not sure of the spelling of a word, consult the system
using WORDS command.
Type in a sequence of numbers, like:
1234567 <ENTER>
eFORTH will echo an ‘ok’ at the end of the line. These numbers are pushed on the data
stack. To verify that they are indeed pushed on the stack, type:
.S <ENTER>
You will see the stack picture on the next line:
1234567 <sp ok
with these numbers on the stack, type some arithmetic commands like:
+ * .S <ENTER>
You will see:
123465 ok
59
eFORTH - cont'd
eFORTH is the name of a FORTH model designed to be portable between a large number
of the newer and more powerful processors existing now, or becoming available in the near
future. eFORTH for the QL is a version 32 bits absolute address and 32 bits stack.
STARTING eFORTH
To START eFORTH: Put eFORTH disk into FLP1. Then POWER QL ON and press the
Fl key. You will see the FORTH sign-on message:
eFORTH v1.03.
Push the <ENTER> key a number of times and you will see a series of 'ok' appear on the
left margin of your screen. eFORTH is now ready to accept commands.
To exercise EFORTH and to learn some of the more useful words in this system, try the
following words:
WORDS <ENTER>
Names of about 200 words will appear on the screen (remember any key to continue and
ENTER key to abort). These are the words that eFORTH has in its dictionary. Word
names are not wrapped around the end of line. You will see names split between two lines.
eFORTH is a very lean system. Cosmetics were not a major concern in its present design.
eFORTH is case sensitive. Most words are in the upper case. Many system words not
intended for applications programming have lower case characters to make them difficult to
enter on the terminal. If you are not sure of the spelling of a word, consult the system
using WORDS command.
Type in a sequence of numbers, like:
1234567 <ENTER>
eFORTH will echo an ‘ok’ at the end of the line. These numbers are pushed on the data
stack. To verify that they are indeed pushed on the stack, type:
.S <ENTER>
You will see the stack picture on the next line:
1234567 <sp ok
with these numbers on the stack, type some arithmetic commands like:
+ * .§ <ENTER>
You will see:
123465 ok
59
MIRACLE
SYSTEMS
MASTERCARD Ee
ars
14 day money back guarantee
GOLD CARD
If you're still not a Who Is the GOLD CARD for? Well, if you ask
member of the user anybody who’s already got one they'll tell
club, QUANTA, then you everyone should have one. The
there's no time like principal benefit Is the speed.
the present to Programs are typically accelerated
pall Bill Newell, by a factor of four. The subjective
podoatteh effect of this Is to give the QLa
9 completely new feel.
Manor Road,
Benfleet, Essex, There's also a battery-backed
SS7 4JD, clock which keeps track of the
tel. (0268) 754407 time while the QL is switched off
and join. so you don’t need to enter the time
and date when you switch on the QL.
A standard disk drive connector
lets you couple the GOLD
CARD to the old style 720K
drive or the new dual 3.2M
drive which, for many users,
is an excellent alternative to
a hard disk.
We've also put 2M of RAM on
board so you can run more tasks Gold Card Owners
The latest ROM
simultaneously and manipulate larger blocks of
data like Quill documents. version is 2.28. if
you have an earlier
Best of all though, why not come to one of the ‘
" gies ersion please
venues listed opposite and see the Gold Card We ects rae {ree
in action. If you want to see what difference the upgrade.
Gold Card will make to you then please bring
along the software you are familiar with. We
look forward to seeing you.
MIRACLE SYSTEMS Ltd, 25 Broughton Way, Osbaldwick,
York, YO1 3BG, U.K. Tel: (0904) 423986
eFORTH - cont'd
Where 65 is the result of (6+7)*5. The following commands are interesting:to try:
+-*/MOD AND OR XOR INVERT
Numbers and words must be separated by spaces. If you run two words together without
separating spaces, like:
123+456 <ENTER>
eFORTH will echo:
123+456 ?
It complains that it does not understand 123+456, which is neither a command nor a
number. Define and the new command:
: TEST FOR R@ . NEXT ; <ENTER>
Type WORDS to see that TEST is added to the dictionary. To exercise TEST, type:
10 TEST <ENTER>
and you will see:
1098765432100k
displayed after the 10 TEST command.
DUMP is a useful command to examine a range of memory. Try the following commands
(Remember any key to continue and ENTER key to abort):
NP @ 100 DUMP
NP contains a pointer to the top of the name dictionary. NP @ gets the pointer and 100
DUMP displays the contents of 100 bytes starting from the top of the name dictionary.
You will see some of the names in the dictionary displayed in the ASCII dump field.
SEE allows you to decompile a word compiled in the dictionary. Type:
SEE DUMP <ENTER>
and you will see the tokens which make up the command DUMP displayed on the screen.
Remember any key to continue and ENTER key to stop. SEE is pretty dumb. It does not
stop at the end of the token list of DUMP.
There are many excellent book introducing FORTH to first time users. This is certainly not
a proper place to present exhaustive tutorials. The file eFORTH_glossary_txt contains the
all commands available in the FORTH system.
62
eFORTH - cont'd
eFORTH QDOS COMMANDS
FORTH.- No in dictionary
doVOC.- No in dictionary
LOAD_FILE.- Load source code from a text file storage (LOAD_FILE
flp1_source_fth).
QPACKS.- Same as PACK$, but moves and converts the string at byte address
with word count to a packed string at address $ (The Standard QDOS).
TRAP! (d2/a3 di dO --- d2 di dO)
TRAP2 (d0 d3 a0 -- a0 dO)
TRAP3 (dO d2 a0 al -- al dl dO)
TRAP3* (dO d2 a0 al di -- al dl dO)
VEC_UT (al a0 dl Vector_num -- d3 dO)
#IN —_(-- addr) Variable which holds the current input ID.
#OUT (-- addr) Variable which holds the current out ID.
#DEFAULT ( -- addr) Variable which holds original console ID.
Free space is only 16 Kbytes. If you wish more, for GOLD CARD type:
278528 CP! <ENTER>
2097152 NP! <ENTER>
Now you have a free space of 1818624 Bytes.
eFORTH for QL eFORTH for PC
Salvador Merino Dr. C. H. Ting
“CTRA CADIZ, CERAMICAS MARY 156 14th Avenue
29640 TORREBLANCA DEL SOL San Mateo, CA 94402
FUENGIROLA (MALAGA) (415) 571-7639
SPAIN
Ed. Notes: eFORTH for the QL has been placed in the public domain, and can be obtained
from IQLR by sending a FORMATTED DISK and $2.00 US funds to cover postage.
maus.comp.ql
BONN, GERMANY - FRANZ HERRMANN
This article is intended for QL users who have access to Usenet or any other means to
receive such conferences or forums. Intl.QI is an international area to discuss anything
related with the QL. It originates from the QBOXnet, an independent private network of
bulletin boards (Fido) which run on QLs or compatible machines.
63
maus.comp.ql - cont'd
Intl.QI is spread widely throughout Europe, as you can see from the following list. Most
of these boards run 24h and offer more QL or Sinclair interest groups (eg. C, Minerva,
Quanta, Spectrum):
Fourth dimension +44-202600305 (England)
Grizzilius Maximus +44-772828975 (England)
TF services +44-717062379 (England)
Blanford-BBS +44-258455117 (England)
Aspects +44-617920260 (England)
QUANTA NE BBS +44-914775472 (England)
Jamten TCL +46-64133330 (Sweden)
Andromeda BBS +39-6-3251114 (Italy)
Lau's Place +44-253780021 (England)
SYNCNET +31-35-237178 (Holland)
QLAT +31-30-962265 (Holland)
KU-EL-TEL +31-1650-37105 (Holland)
Additionally, there is a gateway to the German MAUS network. This is an ideal starting
place. Hans Héscher (Hans_Hoelscher @ hb.maus.de) recently convinced the MAUS
officials to send Intl.Q] to a UUCP site which forwards it to the University of Oldenburg.
This university is a true Internet system and willing to send the Intl.Q] as maus.comp.ql
to any other Internet system on this planet. So far I know this is free.
It is necessary to write a message to Jéerg Lehners
Joerg.Lehners @ arbi.informatik.uni-Oldenburg.de
who is the responsible postmaster at the university. He knows everything about possible
feeds to transport maus.comp.q| to other networks. Please, support this project!
A note for those who do not fully understand this article. It refers to communication via
electronic mail. There is rapidly growing activity around the QL in this area. The long
codes with an '@' inside are Internet addresses, mine is
"Franz_Herrmann @ bn.maus.de".
Internet is an organization with links to nearly all existing networks. (Ed Note: See Tim
Swenson's associated article in the last issue of IQLR).
READING MSDOS DISKS ON THE QL -
PART II: Copying MSDOS Files
OAK RIDGE, TENNESSEE, USA - Mel LaVerne
Part I contained a brief description of the MSDOS disk organization. Table 1, below,
expands on that description to include placement of clusters. The tabular form should
allow visualization of interrelations among the disk parameters superior to any verbal
description. For instance, the expressions in Procedure trsise should be fairly readily
derivable from the Table. I have terminated the table with Track 2 because the patterns
should be apparent by that time. “a and "b" indicate the first and second sectors of a pair,
64
COPYING MSDOS FILES - cont'd
whether in a File Allocation Table (FAT) or a Cluster (Cl).
Track 0 Track 1 Track 2
Sectors Side 0 Side 1 Side 0 Side 1 Side 0 Side 1
0 BootRec Dir 5 Cl Sa Cl 9b Cl 14a Cl 18b
1 FAT la Dir 6 Cl Sb Cl 10a Cl 14b Cl 19a
2 FAT Ib Dir 7 Cl 6a Cl 10b Cl 15a Cl 19b
3 FAT 2a Cl 2a Cl 6b Cl lla Cl 15b Cl 20a
4 FAT 2b Cl 2b Cl 7a Cl 11b Cl 16a Cl 20b
5 Dir 1 Cl 3a Cl 7b Cl 12a Cl 16b Cl 21a
6 Dir 2 Cl 3b Cl 8a Cl 12b Cl 17a Cl 21b
7 Dir 3 Cl 4a Cl 8b Cl 13a Cl 17b Cl 22a
8 Dir 4 Cl 4b Cl 9a Cl 13b Cl 18a Cl 22b
Table 1. MSDOS Disk Organization.
The following program copies a file directly from an MSDOS disk and places it,
temporarily, in a ram disk. Carriage returns are deleted from the line terminators so that
they conform to QL usage. The MSDOS program is otherwise unchanged. If desired, the
file may be copied to a floppy disk. Note that at this point the file has not been subjected to
syntax checking.
Be warned that a BAS extension on an MSDOS program does not guarantee readability,
i.e., that the copy will look like Basic. You may have encountered a compiled program. I
can only say, try it; if the result looks like garbage, try another.
BAT, EXE, COM extensions offer little hope of anything useable.
TXT, DOC extensions indicate probable text files. I say probable because I have, for
instance, encountered DOC files consisting entirely of Basic PRINT statements; sort of
self-documenting files.
The program, complete with explanatory comments, follows:
1000 REMark File = MS_QL_ Copy MSDOS files toQL M.E.LaVerne 6 June 1992
1010:
As before, a bit of tidying up; in particular, we make sure that the ram disk is empty.
Dimensions of the d$ array were derived as follows. We read 512 bytes at a time, so that
the length of d$ cannot exceed 512. The shortest line consists of a single digit, a space, a
colon, and a line feed, four bytes; there are 9 such lines. Line numbers from 10 to 99 yield
90, five byte lines; and, finally, line numbers 100 to 103 give four more lines of six bytes
each. The byte count is then, 9*4 + 90*5 + 4*6 = 36 + 450 + 24 = 510 bytes. Hence, we
cannot have more than 103 lines in a sector. These are not very realistic lines, to be sure,
but I simply wanted an upper limit.
1020 CLEAR: Close45: FORMAT ram1_: CLS: CLS #0: DIM d$(103,512)
1030 INPUT 'Name of ram1_ file ? '; name$: namel$ = 'ram1_' & name$
65
COPYING MSDOS FILES - cont'd
Open an input file for direct access; open a ram disk for output
1040 OPEN_IN #4; 'flp2_*d2d': OPEN_NEW #5; namel$
The initial cluster is obtained by reference to the root directory of Part I; generally, the
clusters will be contiguous, so that the final cluster will be one less than the first cluster of
the next program in the directory.
1050 INPUT ‘Initial cluster ? '; cli, 'Final cluster ? '; clf\\
1060 PRINT #0;'Cluster:'; TO 14; 'Track:'; TO 25; 'Side:'; TO 34; 'Sector:'
1070 :
Now look at all the clusters.
1080 FOR cluster = cli TO clf
Procedure trsise finds the track, side, and sector corresponding to the cluster (this is the
same procedure that was used in Part I).
1090 trsise cluster, track, side, sector
1100 AT #0; 0,9: PRINT #0; cluster;
1110 AT #0; 0,21: PRINT #0; track;
1120 AT #0;0,31: PRINT #; side;
cloff is the offset from the initial sector in a cluster; clusters are taken to have two sectors.
Hence, cloff is 0 or 1.
1130 FOR cloff=0, 1
1140 sec = (sector + cloff) MOD 9
1150 at #0; 0,42: print #0; sec;
Here we test to see whether we swap sides.
1160 IF sector = 8 AND sec = 0 THEN
1170 _ side = NOT side : AT #0;0,31: PRINT #0; side;
1180 ENDIF
Now calculate position on the disk and read a sector.
1190 GET #4\1 + sec + 256*side + 131072*track, a$
1200 k=1: flag =0:b$=" (Ed: two apostrophes)
1210 FORi=1TO512
1220 c$=a$(i): c = CODE(c$)
Test the character c$: discard a CR; or, add a LF, save d$, advance the string count, and set
a flag indicating completion of at least one line. Otherwise, add a character to the string b$
(non-printing characters are indicated by '.').
COPYING MSDOS FILES - cont'd
1230 SELectONc
1240 = 13: REMark Discard CR character
1250 = 10: b$ = b$ & c$: d$(k) = b$: b$ =": k =k + 1: flag = 1 (apostrophes)
1260 = 32 TO 126 : b$ = b$ & c$
1270 = REMAINDER : b$ = b$ &'."
1280 END SELect
1290 END FORi
If the flag is set, print the d$ array ; otherwise, print b$.
1300 IF flag THEN
1310 FORj=1TOk-1: PRINT d$(j);: PRINT #5; d$(j);
1320 ELSE
1330 PRINT b$;: PRINT #5; b$;: b$ =" (apostrophes)
1340 END IF
It is possible that the flag was set and that, subsequently, b$ received some input. So, test
for a non-empty b$ here.
1350 IF b$ <>" THEN PRINT b$;: PRINT #5; b$;: b$ =" (apostrophes)
1360 BEEP 10000,5
1370 END FOR cloff
1380 END FOR cluster
1390:
1400 Close45: PRINT \\Finished. Press any key to continue.": PAUSE
1410:
Optional copy of ram disk to floppy disk.
1420 REPeat to_disk
1430 PRINT \Copy '; name1$; ' to disk ? (Y/N) ';: cpy$ = INKEY$(-1)
1440 PRINT cpy$: IF cpy$ == "Y" OR cpy$ == "N" THEN EXIT to_disk
1450 END REPeat to_disk
If option is to copy, select the drive here.
1460:
1470 IF cpy$ == "Y" THEN
1480 REPeat drive
1490 PRINT \Copy to which drive ? (1/2) ';: drv$ = INKEY$(-1)
1500 PRINT drv$: IF drv$ == "1" OR drv$ == "2" THEN EXIT drive
1510 END REPeat drive
1520 COPY namel$ TO ‘flp' & drv$ & '_' & name$
1530 END IF
1540:
Option to keep or delete the file on ram disk.
1550 REPeat delet
1560 PRINT \Delete '; name
1570 PRINT kill$: IF kill$ ==
"2 (Y/N) 'j: Kill$ = INKEYS(-1)
OR kill$ == "N" THEN EXIT delet
67
1580 END REPeat delet
COPYING MSDOS FILES - cont'd
1590 IF kill§ == "Y" THEN DELETE name1$: PRINT \name1$; ' deleted.\\
1600 :
Avoids those nasty “in use" remarks by the computer.
1610 DEFine PROCedure Close45
1620 CLOSE #4, #5
1630 END DEFine Close45
1640:
Finds track, side, and sector from cluster number. The sector number is for the initial
sector in the cluster.
1650 DEFine PROCedure trsise(clus,tr,si,se)
1660 LOCal x: x = clus +4
1670 tr=INT(x/9): x =x - 9*tr
1680 si=(x >=5): se = 2*x - 9*si
1690 END DEFine trsise
In Part I, I said that the only item of interest in the boot record was the DOS version; this is
not quite right. I've also said that "generally" the file clusters follow one after the other.
But, suppose they don't, what then ? Next time, we'll look at the boot record in gory
detail to see just what information is available. We'll also analyze the FAT to determine
just where all those clusters are.
ADDITIONAL REFERENCE
4. The Peter Norton Programmer's Guide to the IBM PC. Microsoft Press. 1985.
FLIGHTDECK - A REVIEW
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, USA - JOE LA PUNZINA
As the name implies, FLIGHTDECK is a flight simulation program for the QL. The cost
of the program including shipping and handling is 15 Pounds Sterling. It is available from:
DELTASOFT
11 Dumaine Avenue
Stoke Gifford, Bristol BS12 6XH
United Kingdom
The instruction manual supplied is clear and concise, and very easy to follow. A second
copy of the manual is included on the program disk, a handy item to have if your like me,
and like to have a copy to work with. The only difference in the disk copy is the absence
of the figures and charts on pages 13, 14, 15, and 16.
When using the program it's best to plan your flight ahead of time, selecting those beacons
(for use when instrument flying to keep your aircraft headed on the proper course), and
ILS (Instrument Landing System) frequency for final approach to the airport. Plan your
flight from origin to destination, selecting those beacons that will keep your flight as direct
68
FLIGHTDECK REVIEW - cont'd
It takes a little practice landing, as the author notes in the manual, as your flying a twin
engine passenger plane having considerable mass, | had several mishaps in landing (I'm
glad its just a simulation) until | got the hang of it.
I would have liked to have found in this program the following:
a) A compass as well as latitude and longitude grid lines on the two area
charts.
b) Area charts that included all of the airfields, and beacons that are listed in
Flight Simulation programs.
c) A locator that would pinpoint your location at any time in the flight. This
would allow you to see how closely your following the plotted course.
(this could also simulate ground control tracking of your aircraft).
Inclusion of the above items would go a long way in eliminating guesswork (especially for
someone living in a country other than Great Briton), and would be a more professional
package.
It would have been nice to have a demo showing the novice pilot what he could expect to
see as he/she approached a beacon, and how to change frequencies to continue the flight.
Seeing what could be expected as the ILS frequency is activated for the final approach toa
successful landing.
In conclusion, FLIGHTDECK is an interesting program and is well written. If your
looking for a challenge, that requires you to plan ahead, and then seeing how closely you
follow your plan, then this is your cup of tea.
QL SPARES & REPAIRS
NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND, USA - BOB DYL
A growing number of our North American readers have written us concerning SPARE
PARTS and/or QL REPAIRS. We find that this is a worldwide concern of many QLer’s.
Therefore the reason for this article,
Some companies or individuals may be listed more than once, this is due to multiple
services offered. As we have personally dealt with the great majority of the listed
companies, we feel secure in sharing them with you all. The listings are in alphabetical
order.
For complete spare computers two companies come to mind. They are:
EEC LIMITED MECHANICAL AFFINITY
18-21 Misbourne House, Chiltern Hill 513 East Main Street
Chalfont St. Peter, Bucks SL9 9UE Peru, IN 46970
United Kingdom U.S.A.
Tel: 0753 888 866 Tel: 317 473 8031
69
QL SPARES AND REPAIRS - cont'd
Spare parts may be purchased from :
ADMAN SERVICES
53 Gilpin Road, Admanston
Telford, Shropshire TF4 3PR
United Kingdom
Tel: 0952 255 895
CARE ELECTRONICS
15 Holland Gdns. Dept. QL
Garston, Watford, Herts. WD2 6JN
United Kingdom
Tel: 0923 894 064
COWO ELECTRONICS
Munsterstr. 4
CH-6210 Sursee
Switzerland
Tel: 045 211 478
GUSTAFSSON KNUTSSON ELEKTRONIK
Box 4082
431 04 Molndal
Sweden
Tel: not available
MECHANICAL AFFINITY
513 East main St.
Peru, IN 46970
U.S.A.
Tel: 317 473 8031
SUREDATA
Unit 6, Stanley House
Wembley, Middx. HAO 4JBQ
United Kingdom
Tel: 01 902 5218
JOE ATKINSON
36 Ranelagh Road
Ealing, London W5 SRJ
United Kingdom
Tel: not available
COMPUTER CLASSICS
RR 1, Box 117
Cabool, MO 65689
U.S.A,
Tel: 417 469 4571
EEC LIMITED
18-21 Misbourne House,Chiltern Hill
Chalfont St.Peter, Bucks SL9 9UE
United Kingdom
Tel: 0753 888 866
JOCHEN MERZ SOFTWARE
Im Stillen Winkel 12
W-4100 Duisburg 11
Germany
Tel: 0203 501 274
OMNIDALE LIMITED
23 Curzon Street
Derby DEI 2ES
United Kingdom
Tel: 0332 291 219
TF SERVICES
12 Bouverie Place
London
United Kingdom
Tel: 071 724 9053
Last but not the least, is a listing of companies and individuals who do QL repairs:
ADMAN SERVICES
53 Gilpin Road, Admanston
Telford, Shropshire TF4 3PR
United Kingdom
Tel: 0952 255 895
COWO ELECTRONICS
Munsterstr. 4
CH-6210 Sursee
Switzerland
Tel: 045 211 478
70
COMPUTER CLASSICS
RR 1, Box 117
Cabool, MO 65689
U.S.A.
Tel: 417 469 4571
ROBERT GILDER
69 Jefferson Place
Massapequa, NY 11758
U.S.A.
Tel: 516 541 2271
QL SPARES AND REPAIRS - cont'd
QUANTUM ELECTRONIC SERVICES MECHANICAL AFFINITY
33 City Arcade 513 East Main Street
Coventry CV1 3HX Peru, IN 46970
United Kingdom U.S.A.
Tel: 0203 224 632 Tel: 317 473 8031
SUREDATA
Unit 6, Stanley House
Wembley, Middx. HAO 4JBQ
Tel: 01 902 5218
At the time of writing, all of the companies and individuals listed were servicing the QL
community. This article does not purport to list all of those servicing the QL, but those
who come to mind.
In addition, many USER GROUPS offer these services to their members (a good reason to
join a group). A few that I know of are:
N.A.S.A QITALY CLUB SINCLAIR QL USER CLUB e.V.
Nerheim Via Brescia 26 Talstrasse 21
N-5580 Olen 25039 Travgliato (BRESCIA) W-5460 OCKENFELS
Norway Italy Germany
We hope the information contained in this article is useful to those of you who might
require the help offered by the companies and individuals listed.
THE LONELY JOKER
TIVERTON, RHODE ISLAND, USA - DICK TAYLOR
The Lonely Joker is an excellent implementation of the card game Solitaire (Patience).
When used with a mouse, this version is certainly equal to or better than the ones bundled
with "Windows" for the IBM or commonly found on the Macintosh.
The Lonely Joker was developed by the Hit & Do Development Team in Portugal in
conjunction with Jochen Merz of Germany. The program package comes on a single disk
and includes a seven page manual (approximately 4" x 5"). The type on the instruction
manual is very small, and as my eyesight is no longer what it was when I was younger,
coupled with a tendency to keep the area around my computer fairly dark, made for very
difficult reading. I finally ended up enlarging the instructions to 8.5" x 11". To be fair,
you really don't need the instructions if you are familiar with the rules and objectives of the
three different variants, (Echelon, Napoleon and Cascade).
The Lonely Joker requires QJump's Pointer Environment, Jochen Merz's Menu
extensions, (both included on the disk), Super Toolkit II and at least 256Kb of memory
expansion. The games are considerably more playable by using the QIMI Mouse although
they can be played using a joystick or the keyboard alone. If you don't have a QIMI
interface, this game alone would make it worth while obtaining it, or the serial mouse
driver (also from Jochen Merz), reviewed in the last issue of IQLR. I found that when
using the joystick or cursor keys that cursor movement slowed down considerably when
you were in the vicinity of the "deck". This was not noticeable when using the mouse.
71
LONELY JOKER - cont'd
The Lonely Joker when used with QPAC2 can be put to sleep (close down the application
onto a button) and later awakened by clicking on the button with the mouse or hitting the
<ENTER> key when the cursor is over the button.
The program comes bundled with a good configuration program, (QJumps standard
configuration utility), that allows you to easily change the startup parameters such as the
initial game type, the board color, warning beep, maximum number of turns and whether a
Queen can be placed over a King (Cascade only).
These options as well as several others are also available within each game on pulldown
menus from a menu bar across the top of the screen. Additional options include; saving or
loading a previously saved game, auto finish, which when set will allow The Lonely Joker
to finish the game for you as soon as it determines that the game can be completed, the
number of turns through the deck that will be allowed in Echelon 1 and 3 and if you want a
tedeal.
The screen resolution of the cards is excellent although I found it to be considerably better
on the black screen than the green which is the default. The green is the standard QL green
and is a little too bright. If the green could be darkened with a stipple pattern to something
closer to the color of the felt on a pool table, I think it would make a tremendous difference
in the contrast. When you reach the end of an unwon game a message pops up on the
screen informing you of the number of cards left. This message is in white and difficult to
read against the green background. This is not a problem with the black screen. I also
found that it was slightly more difficult to distinguish between clubs and spades against the
green than against the black. I don't want to form the wrong impression, certainly the
green screen is very playable and in any case can be easily changed to black if you prefer.
THE GAMES
Echelon 1: This is the standard classic solitaire card game with 28 cards dealt face down
into seven ranks and the last card dealt face up on each rank. The remaining cards are
placed face down and form the deck. The object is to form four foundations (one for each
suit ) and build them sequentially from the Ace through the King. This is accomplished by
moving cards from the ranks and the closed deck onto the foundations. When you have no
moves from the ranks, you can turn the next card over on the closed deck. Once you have
tun through the closed deck you can turn the cards and start through the deck again. This
can be limited to allow you to only go through the deck two or three times.
This game can be played against time taken to solve, but I think it could be enhanced with
the addition of a casino option where you pay 52 dollars, (marks, pounds, francs, etc.) for
the deck and receive 5 dollars, (marks, pounds, francs, etc.) for every card placed on the
foundation. This win or loss would carry forward from game to game. The most money
won could then be written to a high score table.
Echelon 3: This game is similar to Echelon 1, except three cards at a time are turned over
from the closed deck. (Bob Dyl has completed this game in 2 minutes 49 seconds with a
mouse and playing left-handed, (he's right-handed). He challenges anyone to beat this
time).
Napoleon: This game known as the "King of patiences" was supposably created by
Napoleon during his exile on the isle of Sainte Helene. This game is different in that all the
72
LONELY JOKER - cont'd
cards are placed face up. The documentation for this game had*some errors in it. The
examples didn't match the illustration and I was unable to completely figure out the rules
for manipulating the cards onto the foundations. As I understand the instructions, Lonely
Joker will move a card placed temporarily in the cellar onto an open space in the bottom
rank. I was unable to get this to happen and consequently was unable to get very far with
this game. I am unsure if this was a bug in the program, incompatibility with GOLD
CARD/MINERVA, or much more likely, operator error.
Cascade: This is the simplest of the three games as far as strategy goes, but the hardest to
finish. The cards are laid out in seven ranks of five cards each (face up), a single card face
up which forms the pile, and the remainder of the cards face down in a stack. The object is
to place all cards on a single pile. The card placed on the pile must be immediately of a
higher or lower value than the top card (without regard to suit or color). The only
exceptions to this is that no card may be placed on a King and only a Two can be placed on
an Ace.
The Lonely Joker is a program that will provide many hours of enjoyment and I would
unequivocally recommend it to anyone.
ESTATE SALE
We have recently been notified of the availability of a Miracle Systems GOLD CARD with
the latest version of the ROM for $325. If you think you might be interested, contact Bob
at IQLR.
INTERNATIONAL COMPUTER GLOSSARY
TIVERTON, RHODE ISLAND, U.S.A. - DICK TAYLOR
I thought this might be a good time to bring you up to date on the status of the International
Computer Glossary, especially to those that worked so hard to provide input and resolve
discrepancies.
This project has grown considerably from what I had first envisioned as well as taking
much longer than expected. In it's initial publication, the glossary will be comprised of
eight languages, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish and
French.
The major delay to publication right now is the receipt of the French and Swedish
translations, which are both being worked on.
The response was overwhelming and for some languages I received four different sets of
translations. This was often a mixed blessing as seldom did they agree. This led to
additional correspondence to try and arrive at the best of the available choices.
One of the other problems we encountered was that often, there is no one word equivalency
between the languages. Another problem is how the word is being used, i.e. verb, noun,
adjective, transitive verb, etc. This all had to be judged against the main objective of the
project, which was to allow the QL community worldwide to replace the on-screen text and
73
GLOSSARY - cont'd
prompts of public domain software written in various other languages.
Six of the languages are in the database and we hope to start distribution of the Glossary
shortly after receiving the two missing translations.
SUBSCRIPTIONS / ADVERTISEMENTS
IQLR is published by SeaCoast Services of 15 Kilburn Court, Newport, Rhode Island,
USA. Our telephone number is 401-849-3805, business hours are 10:00 AM to 9:00 PM
Eastern Standard Time, (1500 - 0100 GMT) Monday through Saturday.
ALL material published in IQLR remains the property of SeaCoast Services, and is
COPYRIGHTED, unless otherwise specified. Written permission from SeaCoast Services
IS REQUIRED for use of material printed in IQLR.
SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $14.95 per year (US FUNDS) for the US, $16.95 per year
(US FUNDS) for Canada, and $28.00 per year (US FUNDS) the rest of the World.
Single issue rates are $5.00 (US FUNDS). We will accept Pounds Sterling or DM bank
notes (currency) equivalent to the US $ amount.
IQLR is published 4 to 6 times per year, with individual issue size determined by the
amount of available material. Our subscription year is 1 May through 30 APRIL.
Mid-year subscribers will be sent back issues for the current year.
ADVERTISING RATES: $15.00 DM25 £10 per QUARTER PAGE per issue.
$25.00 DM40 £15 per HALF PAGE per issue.
$50.00 DM80 £30 per FULL PAGE per issue.
ADVERTISING DEADLINE FOR THE NEXT ISSUE IS 20 AUGUST
SUBMISSIONS DEADLINE FOR THE NEXT ISSUE IS 10 AUGUST
IQLR WILL REVIEW OR RETURN ANY COMMERCIAL HARDWARE AND
SOFTWARE SUBMITTED.
AVAILABLE FROM IQLR:
QL SURVIVOR'S SOURCE BOOK including P & H $10.95
Spiral bound VOL. 1 of IQLR including P & H $15.95
Back issues of QL WORLD $ 4.00 ea
DISCLAIMER: SeaCoast Services reserves the right to publish, edit, or reject any
submitted material, and under no circumstances will SeaCoast Services be liable for any
direct, indirect, or consequential damage or loss arising out of the use or inability to use,
software or hardware related items published in IQLR.
74
PAGE DESIGNER 2+
A COMPREHENSIVE DESKTOP PUBLISHING PROGRAM FOR THE EXPANDED QL
written by Dilwyn Jones
Page Designer 2 Plus puts desktop publishing
on the QL within the reach of everyone, at an
affordable price. It provides features found
on other computer systems costing many times
the price, including full WYSIWYG (what you
see is what you get). It comes with a compre-
hensive manual, if you enjoy reading such
things!
Multiple pages of any size (within reason!) can
be created and printed by Epson-compatible
printers. The control codes used in the printer
driver can be changed if the supplied driver is
not suitable for your printer. Both 9 pin and 24
pin dot-matrix printer drivers are supplied and
we are working on drivers for other types of
printers.
Text can be arranged in columns like this, either
manually typed or imported from a Quill_doc
file or from a plain text file from other word
processors. Text can be left, right, or center
justified irrespective of what was used when the
file was prepared.
PD2 Plus has comprehensive CUT and PASTE
facilities, not to mention hires text in various
sizes (unlike the previous version of PD2) for
headings, etc. It has some graphics functions
such as lines, boxes and circles, or you can
import screens from a graphics program such as
The Painter, PictureMaster, or Eye-Q.
A page preview mode displays an entire page in
miniature on the screen so you can check the
overall layout as work progresses.
Text and graphics can be freely mixed. You
can even add a border to the pages.
ALL MAJOR CREDIT CARDS ACCEPTED
PD2 PLUS COSTS ONLY
£40.00 FROM:-
Several pages can be used at once, provided
you have enough free memory. Up to four
colors can be used (and printed, if you have
a color printer!
printer] WHY STRUGGLE?
As you can see, ff *S
text & graphics
can be mixed.
Several fonts,
some clipart
pictures and
conversion
utilities for
converting files use
from other |] PAGE DESIGNER 2+
promt are bem come
all supplied. Font editors are supplied so
that you can create additional fonts yourself.
The program can run in the pointer
environment, (although it does not use the
pointer interface itself) and is Minerva
compatible. It is also Taskmaster
compatible.
You can save screens from within PD2 Plus
for use with other programs. PD2+ can be
configured to load specific sets of fonts
and patterns and set the default page sizes,
automatically when it starts up, to save
time.
Above all, it has been designed to be
extremely easy to use.
PD2 PLUS REQUIRES A FLOPPY DISK
OR HARD DISK SYSTEM WITH AT
LEAST 512K OF RAM MEMORY ON
YOUR QL (OR COMPATIBLE). IT
CANNOT BE SUPPLIED ON MICRO-
DRIVE CARTRIDGE.
! UPGRADE FROM EARLIER VER-
| SIONS AVAILABLE FOR ONLY
£ 20.00 IF YOU SUPPLY PROOF OF
| PURCHASE
DILWYN JONES COMPUTING, 41 BRO EMRYS, TAL-Y-BONT, BANGOR,
GWYNEDD, GREAT BRITAIN, LLS7 3YT
TELEPHONE: BANGOR (0248) 354023
DILWYN JONES COMPUTING
41 BRO EMRYS, TAL-Y-BONT, BANGOR, GWYNEDD, GREAT BRITAIN, LLS7 3 YT
TELEPHONE: 0248-354023
WE SELL A WIDE RANGE OF SINCLAIR QL SOFTWARE, PROGRAMS WE PUBLISH OURSELVES AND THIRD PARTY
SOFTWARE. MOST ITEMS ARE HELD IN STOCK WHERE POSSIBLE, BUT WE WILL OF COURSE ORDER ANY ITEM NOT
CURRENTLY IN STOOCK AND QUOTE YOU A DELIVERY TIME.
ASK FOR A COPY OF OUR QL PRODUCTS CATALOGUE, FREE ON REQUEST. IT CONTAINS MORE DETAILS
OF OUR SOFTWARE AND SOME SCREEN PICTURES FROM THE PROGRAMS.
SOME OF OUR SOFTWARE IS AVAILABLE FROM EMSOFT IN THE U.S.A., QITALY CLUB IN ITALY, JURGEN FALKENBURG
AND QLYMPIC COMPUTER SYSTEMS IN GERMANY. OR YOU CAN ORDER DIRECT FROM US, OF COURSE. IF CONTACTING
US BY TELEPHONE, REMEMBER THE UK IS 5 TO 8 HOURS AHEAD OF THE U.S.A. WE HAVE AN ANSWERING MACHINE FOR
WHEN WE CAN'T ANSWER IN PERSON AND WE DO TRY TO CALL YOU BACK IF REQUIRED.
WE CAN ACCEPT ORDERS BY TELEPHONE, PAID FOR BY CREDIT CARD FOR LOW EXCHANGE COSTS AND QUICK
DELIVERY. WHY NOT CLUB TOGETHER TO BUY PROGRAMS AT REDUCED COSTS AND TAKE ADVANTAGE OF QUANTITY
DISCOUNTS (5% DISCOUNT FOR 2 PROGRAMS, 10% FOR THREE OR MORE). PLEASE ADD 2.00 POUNDS STERLING PER
PROGRAM ON MICRODRIVE CARTRIDGE.
PAYMENT BY CREDIT CARD (ACCESS, VISA, MASTERCARD, EUROCARD, CONNECT),
EUROCHEQUE (IN POUNDS STERLING), INTERNATIONAL POSTAL MONEY ORDER, CASH,
CHEQUE IN POUNDS STERLING DRAWN ON UK BRANCH OF A BANK OR BUILDING
SOCIETY
ALL PRICES IN THIS ADVERT ARE IN UK POUNDS STERLING CURRENCY.
POSTAGE - SOFTWARE POST FREE IN THE UK, ADD I POUND PER PROGRAM TO OTHER
COUNTRIES
DISPLAY SOFTWARE
VISION MIXER 1.....
VISION MIXER PLUS
UPGRADE VM1 TO VM+.
PICTUREMASTER.......
PICTUREMASTER PLUS.
FILE TRANSFER
LEISURE
CRICKET SECRETARY..
QUESTION MASTER...
THE PAINTER 4.04...
(HP Deskjet printer option)
IMAGE PROCESSOR V2.
UPGRADE TO VERSION 2.
FILE HANDLING
FILES 2...
FILEMASTER..
BUDGET GENEALOGIST.
SUPER DISK INDEXER...
THE CLIPART.. OTHER SOFTWARE
QRACTAL.. HOME BUDGET (UK).......00ssssssssssssss00s 20.00
DEMO QRACTAL SCREEN: REMIND ME... 12.00
SCREEN ECONOMISER.
SLOWGOLD slow down..
TASKMASTER.....
FLOPPY DISC LABELLER.
(ready during the summer)
MINI PROCESS CONTROLLER
SOFTWAREUTILITY..
THE GOPHER NETWORK PROVER BOX..
WINBACK V2.0
LABELS
DLP: 100 disk labels...
PAGE DESIGNER 2+.. 100 m'drive label:
PD2UPGRADE..... ROBROY SOFTWAREPACK.... 100 address labels.
ALL PRICES SHOWN ARE POUNDS STERLING
(
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